Swords

"..."

"..."

Silence reigned on the entire snowy field as two armed men quietly stared at each other...

"..."

Tak~

Tak~

"..."

Tek~

Tek~

In that overwhelming silence, the only sound that could be currently heard was one coming from their footsteps.

Tek~

Tension was slowly filling the surroundings as both searched for the right opportunity...

"..."

Tak~

Tak~

Everything was quiet because even the small animals seemed to be speechless.

But then...

Ta-CREEKK!!

Suddenly a loud sound could be heard as the younger of the two men, a brown-haired haired youth, stepped on a dried branch.

"Huh-"

Surprised the man looked at the ground for a mere moment, unfortunately for him, when he looked up again...

"Shi-"

For his chagrin, a chunk of metal, most precisely a sword, was quickly reaching the left side of his body.

TTOOKK!!

"Ugh."

He didn't know if it was because of a stroke of luck or even because of experience, but his body moved without even thinking.

TTOOOOK!!

Yet, that didn't matter right now; he was aware of it, the fact his opponent wouldn't lose any time at all.

'Damn!'

TOOK!

"Uh."

Luckily for him, the attack from his foe was rendered useless once again; before the protection of the wooden buckler shield, he was currently holding.

TTOK!

"Ugh."

Four...

TOOK!

"Ughh."

Five...

TTOKK!

"Ughh!"

Six...

Fortunately for him, he successfully blocked hit after hit... yet unfortunately... he was starting to feel the toll on his body.

TTOK!!

"Ugh-Damn!"

Despite being tired, he ignored his lack of energy and kept parrying heavy hits again and again.

'Damn, damn!'

'For Igrinor's sake!! If it continues going like this, I'm going to lose- Hum!'

And just when he was getting frustrated, the man finally found the right opportunity to launch a counter-attack.

'Should I attack? It is an intentional opening? Shit!'

'Shit! He's changing his posture!!'

'Damn!!! It's now or never!!'

Even with his thoughts in disarray, the youth quickly choose to attack.

"Huuh~"

And so, taking a deep breath, holding the short-sword with both of his hands, and putting all of his weight on this single stance...

"HUAAAAA!!!"

With a loud shout, he diagonally slashed his opponent with everything he had.

TIIN!-SSSSSSHHKKKRRRRR!!!!

KSSSUF~

"Oohh~!"

"That was a good attack Volga!!"

Right after deflecting Volga's short-sword, the opponent, a slightly older purple-haired man, shouted with glee apparent in his voice.

"Thank you! Vice captai-"

Volga couldn't finish his words as the vice-captain suddenly tried to slash him again.

TTOOK!

"Wai-"

TTOK!!

"Cap-"

TTOK!

"Wait, vice-"

TTOKK!

"TSK!!! CAN'T YOU WAIT A MOMENT, JOHANNES!!?!"

Messily brandishing his sword, Volga shouted utterly annoyed.

TIIINN!!

"Ohh..."

"..."

Looking at the unusual angered expression Volga had on his face, Johannes stopped attacking in shock.

"Huff- finally-"

"..."

"Heeh~ yeah, I can't."

Just to resume his attacks a moment after.

TTUUK!

"What- huff- Why!?"

TTOK!!

"Heheheh~"

TOK!

"Heh~"

"In a real battle, your enemies won't wait for you, Vol~ Ga!"

TTOEK!

"Ugh!"

TTOKK!!

"But- huff- this isn- huff~"

TOOK!

"Huff- Isn't- huff- a real battle- huff-huff~"

Barely defending himself, Volga, muttered panting.

"Heeeh~"

"One day, these kinds of thoughts will end killing you~"

Johannes said chuckling.

"Huff- Huff~"

"First of all, soldier, straighten your back!"

"Dammit- Huff- Yes- Huff- Vice-captain!"

And so, with a smile, Johannes started teaching Volga...

...

..

.

TLLUK!!!

"OUW!!"

TLUKK!!

LUK!

Luk...

Ssshrrkirr~

"Heeh~ And so, it's your loss, Vol~ ga~"

With an annoying smirk, Johannes announced as he sheathed his sword.

"Oww, my hand hurts! Damn you, Johannes!"

"You could have disarmed me in a gentler way!"

Sskhrkirr~

Also sheathing his sword, Volga spoke with indignation showing on his face.

"Haha~"

"Stop being so dramatic man, I just hit your hand lighthly~"

"Still... You could hav-"

"And in the first place, I even spent my precious training time teaching you!"

Interrupting Volga, Johannes said with a really aggrieved expression as he waved his hands on the air in an overly dramatic way.

"Wha!"

"Of everything you could say, you say that???"

"Hah! Training time my ass!! In those three months we've been here, I barely ever saw you training!!"

"And I'm not even talking about the time after you became a vice-commander!!!"

Volga yelled with an exasperated look on his face.

"Bro... no one knows what you even do in this 'training' time..."

"Well, we all have a rough idea... although I didn't want to tell it to you..."

"Just confess it, you spend that time wooing girls don't you!?"

"..."

"Huh?"

Johannes, who was quietly hearing Volga's complaint, made a genuinely surprised face when he heard that question.

"What? Don't just stand here and 'Huh?' to me!"

"No-"

"Bro! Three months were more than enough to know about your annoying flirtatious personality!"

"I bet that by now, even captain Bartolomeo is annoyed!!"

"And normally captain Bartolomeo doesn't even care for anyth-"

"No, not that."

With a strong and steady tone of voice, Johannes curtly interrupted Volga.

"I wasn't surprised about this part."

"Hmn? Wha-"

"Heh, I mean, I just realized something important..."

"Heh, heh..."

"..."

"..."

"What? What is it?"

Not enduring the neverending suspense and the creepy laughs of Johannes, Volga eagerly asked.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk~"

"Poor you, Volga."

Not quite answering, Johannes just shook his head lightly.

"Huh? Why?"

"Huhuh~"

"I just realized that you admitted the fact you lost to someone who doesn't even train~"

"PFFT!!"

"Where's your pride young Volga~?"

Johannes asked with a sly grin as he poked Volga's forehead.

"You-You..."

"Johannes, you motherfucker!!!"

SSSSHRRKIRRR!!!!

"I'll show it to your face!"

Unsheathing his sword once again, Volga shouted with his face red from shame.

"Ow! Ow~"

"That hurts man~"

Laughing, Johannes defended himself with his arms.

"Calm down for a moment bro~ ~"

"I won't calm do-"

"Wait, hear me out first, man~"

Trying to suppress the grin on his face, Johannes interrupted Volga once again.

"You can't be so angry!!"

"Hah?"

"After all..."

"If you put all of your MONSTRUOUS power on the poor training sword, you'll break it!!"

He yelled with a 'serious' expression.

"Heheheeheheheheh!!"

"Maaaaaaan~ you really should take a look at your face right now~"

Looking at Volga's face, Johannes continuously cackled, holding back his hurting belly.

"HAAAAH..."

"I'll seriously kill you, Johan!!!"

Running towards Johannes with a sword in hand, Volga angrily shouted with his tomato-like red face.

"Pffft~"

"You can try~!"

Johannes yelled as he ran to the opposite way with a cheerful grin on his face.

"Wait a moment, and let me kill you!!"

"I promise it will be painless!!!"

Volga happily shouted with a cold glare on his face.

"Heheheh~"

"Think well, Volga! Killing your superior is a crime~"

"Huhuhuh!!"

"Well, as long no one discovers it, there won't be any problems!"

Volga continued shouting as he laughed creepily.

"Well, anyways just stop there for a mome- Ah"

TENG!!

"Ah..."

"Johannes..."

"Huh?"

Out of nowhere, Volga suddenly stopped running and kept looking at the ground.

"Huh? What happened Volga?"

"Did you hurt yourself?"

Johannes asked truthfully worried.

"Johan..."

"I... I think I broke my sword..."

"What?"

"I think I broke my sword..."

"..."

"Excuse me what the fuc-"

...

..

.

A little far from there, Bartolomeo, who came there to search for the two, had only one thought on his mind when he saw that...

'Fuck... just how much money I embezzled??'